Mouthpiece for wind musical instrument

ABSTRACT

In a wind musical instrument having a mouthpiece having an elastic air tunnel formed of elastic means in sheet form, a method of varying the pitch of the sound produced by said instrument comprising widthwise stretching said elastic means by applying lip pressure to said mouthpiece and varying said stretching by varying said lip pressure.

Umted States Patent [111 3,744,365 Kordula July 10, 1973 [541 MOUTHPIECEFOR WIND MUSICAL 628,670 7/1899 McNamara 84/380 INSTRUMENT 1,513,95011/1924 Widmayer 84/399 2,570,816 10/1951 Kimple 84/330 [76] Inventor:John Kordula, 322 Plantation Road.

Palm Beach, 33480 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson [22] Filed; May19 7 Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Att0meyWilliam L. Fisher[21] Appl. No.: 254,947

[57] ABSTRACT [52] 0.8. CI 84/330, 84/380, 84/453 In a wind musicalinstrument having a mouthpiece hav- [51] Int. Cl. Gl0d 7/00 ing anelastic air tunnel formed of elastic means in [58] Field of Search84/330, 380, 384, sheet form, a method of varying the pitch of the sound84/398, 399,453 produced by said instrument comprising widthwisestretching said elastic means by applying lip pressure to [56]References Cited said mouthpiece and varying said stretching by varyingUNITED STATES PATENTS said hp Pressure- 3,339,444 9/1967 Brooks 84/398 3Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Patented July 10, 1973 3,744,365

MOUTHPIECE FOR WIND MUSICAL INSTRUMENT My invention relates to windmusical instruments.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a mouthpiece for windmusical instruments having an elastic air tunnel which is stretchablewidthwise in accordance with the pressure of the players lips upon saidmouthpiece, whereby to vary the pitch of the sound produced by theparticular musical instrument.

The foregoing object of my invention and the advantages thereof willbecome apparent during the course of the following description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1-4 are, respectively, top plan, end elevational, and sectionalviews of a trumpet mouthpiece embodying my invention; and

FIGS. 5-7 are, respectively, similar views of another embodiment of myinvention useful with brass wind instruments.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail and first to FIGS. 1-4,generally designates said embodiment shown therein which comprises anelastic body, being generally elliptical in front elevation andpreferably formed of rubber, having a substantially vertical wall 12 andan elastic tunnel formed therein of vertically spaced apart elasticsheets 14 which project inwardly of said rear wall 12 and form an airpassage 16 therebetween. Opposite sides of said sheets 14 are suitablybonded to posts 17, preferably made of metal, having outwardly bentinner ends 19 which bear against the inside surface of said rear wall12. An inwardly projecting elastic peripheral flange 18 is integrallyformed with said body around the outer edges of said rear wall 12 forholding the mouthpiece 10 in place on the inner end of a trumpet 20which has a tapered body, generally elliptical in cross-section andpreferably formed of plastic. Said inner trumpet end is concave in planview as indicated at 22 and has high points or peaks 24 at oppositesides thereof upon which rockably rest said bent inner ends 19 when saidmouthpiece 10 is assembled on the trumpet 20.

In operation of said mouthpiece 10 the player blows the trumpet 20 bypressing his lips against the rear wall 12 and while doing this he isable to variably apply lip pressure to said rear wall 12 which, byvirtue of the concave structure 22, causes said rear wall 12 to assumean inwardly concave shape as shown in FIG. 1 which in turn pushesinwardly upon such inner ends 19 and causes them to rock on the ridges24 and to spread apart the outer ends of said posts 17 which stretchesthe sheets 14 and narrows the air passage 16, thereby increasing thepitch of the sound produced in proportion to the amount of lip pressureapplied to the rear wall 12. 1

Referring to FIGS. 57, the embodiment shown therein is designated 110and like parts thereof in respect to the embodiment 10 are similarlydesignated with reference numerals prefaced with numerals in the series.The mouthpiece is assembled on a mouthpiece part 11 1 which has acylindrical inner end for slidably fitting with conventional brass windinstruments. The inner end of said mouthpiece part 111 is constructedlike the inner end of said trumpet 20 so as to have peaks 124 atopposite sides thereof upon which rockably rest the bent inner ends 1 19when the mouthpiece 110 is assembled on the mouthpiece part 111. Saidmouthpiece 110 operates substantially the same as the mouthpiece 10except that the pitch variation produced thereby is available for eachtone position of the particular brass wind instrument.

It will thus be seen that there has been provided by my invention amouthpiece for wind musical instruments in which the object hereinaboveset forth, together with many thoroughly practical advantages, has beensuccessfully achieved. For example, a simple wind instrument such as thetrumpet 20 and the mouthpiece 10 can be constructed which will enablethe user both to produce a wide variation of tones over the musicalscale and to become very adept at producing consonant tones with verylittle effort or wind power and without requiring continual practice toharden or condition the lips. While preferred embodiments of myinvention have been shown and described, it is to be understood thatvariations and changes may be resorted to without departing from thespirit of my invention as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A mouthpiece for a wind musical instrument comprising,

a body having an end having a concave recess therein with peaks atopposite sides thereof,

a mouthpiece part comprising a peripheral flange for mounting saidmouthpiece part on said body end, said mouthpiece part having a wallconnected to said flange, said wall having a slit therein, saidmouthpiece part having elastic sheet means projecting from said wall anddefining therein a tunnel aligned with said slit, said mouthpiece parthaving means connected to said elastic sheet means having bent portionswhich rest on said peaks when said mouthpiece part is mounted on saidbody end whereby said bent portions rock on said peaks in response tochanges in pressure on said wall so as to widthwise stretch said elasticsheet means and thereby vary the cross-section of said tunnel.

2. A mouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein said body is a flared tubetapering outwardly from said body end.

3. A mouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein said body is a part of a removablemouthpiece of a brass wind musical instrument.

1. A mouthpiece for a wind musical instrument comprising, a body havingan end having a concave recess therein with peaks at opposite sidesthereof, a mouthpiece part comprising a peripheral flange for mountingsaid mouthpiece part on said body end, said mouthpiece part having awall connected to said flange, said wall having a slit therein, saidmouthpiece part having elastic sheet means projecting from said wall anddefining therein a tunnel aligned with said slit, said mouthpiece parthaving means connected to said elastic sheet means having bent portionswhich rest on said peaks when said mouthpiece part is mounted on saidbody end whereby said bent portions rock on said peaks in response tochanges in pressure on said wall so as to widthwise stretch said elasticsheet means and thereby vary the cross-section of said tunnel.
 2. Amouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein said body is a flared tube taperingoutwardly from said body end.
 3. A mouthpiece as in claim 1 wherein saidbody is a part of a removable mouthpiece of a brass wind musicalinstrument.